oneplus and the elephant in the room

OnePlus is by all accounts making the most compelling Android phone on the market. It’s well deserved. OnePlus charges far less for a comparable or better experience than the competition. But something that has been completely absent from coverage of OnePlus is security. OnePlus is owned by Oppo, a subsidiary of BBK Electronics, a company based in China. With China’s National Intelligence Law Chinese firms must aid the Chinese government in intelligence gathering. This coupled with China’s rampant human rights abuses from internet censorship to Muslim internment gives this publication pause. To be clear, there is zero evidence OnePlus is currently working with the Chinese government in a capacity that would betray its users. At the very least though security should be part of the calculus when discussing the merits of a OnePlus device. But hey, it has a pop up camera.